St. Gregory of Nyssa

 St. Gregory of Nyssa

  

  St. Gregory of Nyssa is the brother of St. Basil the Great and both are numbered among the so-called Cappadocian Fathers who were renown for their defense of the Holy Trinity.  Another brother of his, Peter of Sebate, was a bishop and his oldest sister, Macrina is recognized as a Saint.

Gregory was himself elevated to the episcopacy in 371 and faced many difficulties including exile. He was falsel accused and deposed as bishop in 376 but returned to his see in 378, after the death of the Emperor Valens. He assisted at the Council of Constantinople in 381, which attempted to put an end to Arianism and Pneumatism in the East. He was renown as an eloquent preacher and writer. Most of his writing was on Scripture and he had a fine sense of the spiritual and mystical sense of Scripture. He himself is called "father of mysticism." 

As a systematic theologian he was the best since the time of Origen, whose work he admired.  This is especially evident in his Great Catechetical Discourse where he laid out the fundamental directions of theology.

On the subject of prayer Gregory writes, "Through prayer we succeed in being with God.  But anyone who is with God is far from the enemy. Prayer is a support and protection of charity, a brake on anger, an appeasement and control of pride.  Prayer is the custody of virginity, the protection of fidelity in marriage, the hope for those who are watching, an abundant harvest for farmers, certainty for sailors."